Product Review: Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Brownie Mix

Chocolate! That’s what we’re talking about here. We’ve been making the Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free Brownie Mix for almost a year now and recently it came to my attention that we haven’t ever reviewed it on this site. This mix is really awesome. We don’t make it exactly how the package says you should, though, so I’m going to provide details about what we do.

The brownie mix is free of wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, soy, and corn, which is cool because that takes care of quite a few common allergy foods. Of course, it has chocolate, but that’s the point! Here is a list of ingredients: Organic Evaporated Cane Juice (sugar), Sweet Brown Rice Flour, Cocoa (processed with alkali), Tapioca Flour, Arrowroot Flour, Sea Salt, Xanthan Gum. I always list the amount of sodium in the Trader Joe’s products I review. The package says that it makes 12 servings. Each serving has 125 mg of salt.

We always put some of these awesome chips in our brownies. They’re the Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. Besides being delicious, they’re free of dairy, nuts, gluten, and soy, and are mini-chips. This makes them ideal for brownies.
As an egg substitute, you can add your own favorite (when we replace eggs, we use the Ener-G Food Egg Replacer because it is gluten-free.) We also replace half of the oil with some applesauce. This sounds kind of weird, considering you’re making brownies, but I think it really improves the brownies, and also the brownies are a lot more healthy. In case you’re wondering, it is possible to replace all the oil with applesauce and end up with edible brownies, but they definitely aren’t as delicious, and don’t seem to keep as well.

One of the most important things about making brownies is to not overcook them. When you overcook brownies they end up rock hard when they’ve cooled off. It seems like the Trader Joe’s mix doesn’t suffer from this so much, which is cool. With a little bit of adjustment, this mix can also be used to make cookies. Instructions for these are on the package.

And here’s the reward. We have made these brownies and shared them with friends and family, and nobody has ever suspected that they are gluten-free. They’re awesome!

We want to know: Are there other gluten-free brownie mixes out there? Do you have any tricks or tips to make better brownies? Let us know in the comments.

Times we have visited: 8+ (so we feel confident about our score.)
Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: About the same

Oh! And I forgot-try Udi’s bread. It is A-mazing!!! I bake my own bread from scratch, and can’t even get close to this stuff. It’s like the Wonder Bread of gluten free. It’s incredible in that it stays fresh forever without either crumbling or getting gummy (so you can easily make sandwiches that last all day, even days after opening the loaf). However, much like Wonder Bread, I don’t think it has much nutrition. I’ve only tried the sandwich bread (as my local stores were out of multi grain) so I don’t know if that might have more nutrition. Regardless, I will never go without it again, it’s that good.

I love the Babycakes NYC brownie recipe. It’s gluten-free and vegan as well. I add chocolate chips to it (as I do to everything), and I completely fooled family and co-workers. Her cupcakes are awesome as well.

The result was a thick, fudgy, moist brownie with a crispy crust. Just how I like my brownies! So many vegan brownie recipes have failed to produce a crust or something that wasn’t too cake-like. I think the zucchini adds some moisture and helps hold the ingredients together. I’m sure apple sauce would do the same. I will try it next time with 1/4 C. of oil to reduce the fat.

This was a great suggestion!! All of the reviews i kept reading were awful if you went by the instructions. I added splash more water, used egg replacer to make it vegan (whisk in warm water, let it sit by itself for a couple minutes), followed everything else above, and mixed it with an electric mixer for a while. Added chunks of 70% dark chocolate– they were perfect!! I think the best suggestion was less time–23-25min. at 350 and they were absolutely great.

A you all crazy? I made these Brownies yesterday following the directions exactly. I ended up with an oily mess! I had to pour off the oil sitting on top of the brownies after baking, let them sit on paper towels overnight and still they look awful and taste like oily chocolate.

I made them for my widowed elderly uncle who has a severe form of celiac disease.

I had to throw them out they are inedible. I think half the oil would have been plenty.

Dr. Samantha Opt-In

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Dr. Samantha Brody is a licensed Naturopathic Physician and acupuncturist and the owner and founder of Evergreen Natural Health Center in Portland, Oregon. She is both a health educator and coach who can help introduce patients to new ways of caring for themselves. Read More…

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